Beyond Broadway
by MysticTyler
Summary: Just because the Tonys are over doesn't mean everything is done and dusted. The show must go on, but for the casts and creative teams of Bombshell and Hit List, their toughest challenges are still those behind the curtain.
1. The Ultimatum

"So you're still going through with the tour?" Karen asked, observing Ana, the cheerful young woman as she packed clothes and various superfluous items into the open suitcase and travel bags on her bed.

"Well, yeah. I mean, Hit List is still going and Daisy's still the Diva. I think that Once might be just what I need." Ana said nonchalantly. She turned to Karen. "I've put your name on the lease for this place, so don't worry about that."

Karen nodded. "Thanks, Ana."

"Have you heard from Jimmy?"

"No..." Karen muttered.

It had been three long days since the 67th Annual Tony Awards, since the night that Jimmy confessed everything about his past to Karen, and turned himself into the police. Their last moment together was something that Karen cherished dearly, but the three endless days and three sleepless nights since that time had taken most of the memories of that night away, leaving the emotions that Karen had felt at that time to be the only things present in her mind. It was bad enough that Jimmy was gone, but now with Ana leaving for her tour as well, Karen knew that she would now be alone in the empty apartment.

"Why don't you try again today?" Ana suggested as looked back and forth between two jackets, supposedly only having enough space for one or the other.

"The last two times I've been turned away. What makes you think I'll be able to see him?" Karen asked.

It was a fair question. In the three days since the Tony Awards, Karen had tried on two separate occasions to visit Jimmy at the Lincoln Correctional Facility, and both times, she had been turned away. She was also informed that, just as Derek had told her, Jimmy Collins was just a pseudonym, and that his real name was in fact James 'Jimmy' Macchia. To Karen though, it didn't matter what name he had: he would always be Jimmy Collins.

"They say third time's the charm..." Ana smiled, deciding to pack the denim jacket over the frilly Brunswick green one.

"I guess..." Karen murmured.

"Well anyway, I'd better get going..." Ana muttered, doing her best to smile as she slung her bags over her back and wrapped her fingers around the handle of her suitcase. She walked over to the door of the apartment as Karen leaned in and gave her a hug.

"I'm gonna miss you so much!" Karen groaned, feigning tears, causing Ana to laugh.

"Hey, don't forget that there are such things as cell phones. Just call me up whenever you're feeling lonely. In fact, I probably won't be settled right away either, so you'll be doing me a favor as well."

"I promise I'll call you!" Karen giggled, pulling away from Ana, who opened the door with her free hand.

"You'll see him again, Karen. I know you will." Ana smiled, walking out the door and closing it behind her. Karen sighed as the realization of being alone crept in. She looked over to the desk at the opposite end of the room and her eyes focused on Kyle's Tony Award, the one Jimmy accepted on his behalf. It was the first time since saying her goodbyes to Jimmy that Karen had even really paid attention to it.

It had always been a dream of Karen's to win a Tony upon becoming a Broadway actor, and she had been bested by both Daisy and Ivy, the latter of course being her rival ever since the two of them auditioned for Bombshell. Strangely though, she wasn't that upset about losing out on a Tony, because regardless of that she was still thrilled to have been a part of both Hit List and Bombshell, two of the most talked about shows to hit Broadway during the season. Kyle's vision for Hit List made him a well-deserving candidate for a Tony, and it was such a shame that Kyle never got to see his work completed. Jimmy had given Kyle's Tony to Karen, as he knew that it would be confiscated by the police should he have kept it with him, and he knew that Karen would take good care of it.

Karen spun the medallion with her finger and smiled. She honestly never thought she'd get to see a Tony, let alone hold one, this soon, not since Derek told her that she'd had too much talent to be a part of the ensemble for Bombshell. That wasn't the reason why though. Derek, at that time, had also told her that it might've taken five years for Bombshell to get to Broadway. Of course, back then Bombshell was known as Marilyn: The Musical, and they hadn't even started the Workshop.

It turned out that Derek was right in one regard, and wrong in another. Karen was definitely too skilled to be in any ensemble, but she didn't have to wait five years to see a Tony. She wasn't sure how long it would be for her to actually _win_ a Tony, but she would remain optimistic and hopeful. For all she knew, this could be her year.

No. This _would_ be her year...

Karen snapped back at the sound of her cell phone ringing, accompanied by a gentle vibration against the table. Karen walked over and picked up her phone, answering the call not even after the second ring.

Speak of the Devil...

"Karen, it's Derek. I just got a call from Jerry. He wants to see us at his office right now."

"What about?" Karen asked.

"I'm not sure, but I could tell by his voice when he called that he wasn't in a good mood."

"But doesn't Jerry _always_ sound like that?"

Derek laughed. "That's true! Even so, it wouldn't be a good idea to keep him waiting now, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't..." Karen muttered. "Okay, I'll be right over!"

* * *

Julia smiled, silently observing Michael's face as he slept. The last time she had felt like this was right before Bombshell's first workshop. Although she was initially against rekindling things with Michael, she eventually gave in to his advances and proceeded to continue their affair. Despite her best efforts, her teenage son, Leo, and her husband of eighteen years, Frank, found out, ending their marriage in spite of one more brief moment together as a family.

Although she and Frank had parted on relatively good terms since the last time they spoke, Julia was still uncertain about the divorce proceedings and the impact they would have not only on her, but on Leo as well.

Michael shifted slightly under the covers, turning to Julia, awake, his eyes now open. "Mornin', Jules..."

"Morning, Michael..."

Ever since she had given Michael the letter, the one that was intended to be used to support her and end Frank's case, she had been staying with him, eating with him, sleeping with him. Neither Eileen nor Tom had heard from her since the Tonys, and although she was worried about what Tom would think considering their bond and everything, as Julia stared blissfully into Michael's eyes, it seemed as though all her worries would drift away and never return.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Michael asked.

"Well I've got a College thing with Leo in the afternoon, but I'm free until twelve."

Michael's thoughts hung on what Julia had said, as he recalled when Julia had informed him that Leo had found out about the affair. Having read the letter firsthand, Michael knew the effect that the affair had not only on the relationship between Frank and Julia, but also between Leo and Julia. He had caused an upset in their relationship once, and he didn't want to do it again. "Have you told him about... us...?" Michael asked softly.

"No... I haven't. I didn't think it would be right to tell him over a phone call. He's been staying with Frank for the past few days and... I don't really feel comfortable going over there at the moment..."

"Okay..." Michael yawned. "If you want to hold off on telling him for the time being, that's fine with me." He shifted on the bed once more, reaching around and pulling Julia closer to him. "But he needs to know eventually..."

"I know..." Julia muttered, before leaning over and kissing Michael on the cheek. Julia knew full-well how her affair with Michael effectively destroyed her family. Now she had another chance, not only with Michael, but with Leo as well. She had no idea how Leo might react to finding his mother and Michael once again in a relationship, but she knew that she couldn't screw this up. She had to tell him, lest risking that he find out on his own...

* * *

"That was quite the stunt you pulled, stealing Daisy's Tony performance." Jerry sighed, swiveling around in his chair. "I hope you know that because of what you did, there is now an issue at hand that we need to take care of."

"You mean _besides_ the issue of payment?" Derek remarked.

Jerry laughed. "If you think I'm going to pay you when you basically hijacked the Tony Awards like that, think again. You're lucky I don't have you and the rest of the cast fired!" Jerry sighed. "That's not the issue I was referring to though..."

"Which issue are you referring to...?" Karen asked.

"Casting. You and the Ensemble have made it very clear that you don't want to work with Daisy, and we don't have an understudy for her. Now, I don't want to go through all the trouble of hiring another actor to play the Diva, only to have you all refusing to work with her, so I'm going to leave that all up to you."

"What do you mean?" Karen asked.

"You have until next week to find me a replacement for Daisy Parker, or I'm shutting down Hit List."

"Shut it down?" Derek asked.

"You can't do that!" Karen insisted. "Not after everything that's happened!"

"I'm the one that's investing the money into it, so actually, I _can_ do that. And you've all decided that you don't want to work with her. If you want Hit List to run on Broadway, if you want to _be_ a _part_ of Hit List running on Broadway, you will find me a Diva. By next week. That's all."

"What about the shows for _this_ week?" Derek asked.

"The people who have bought tickets for the shows this week will have their money refunded to them." Jerry explained.

Derek scoffed, turning and storming out of the room as Karen trailed after him.

"This is bloody ridiculous!" Derek ranted. "We can't find another Diva in one week!"

"You found Ivy and me in one week!" Karen objected.

"If you ask me, I just think he's still pissed at me because of what happened with My Fair Lady!" Derek sighed. "Look... I have to see Ivy in a few minutes, but I think that we need to get together later on and start looking for a potential Diva. What do you think?"

"Well... yeah, sure. I mean, Ana's moved out now so we can do it at my apartment."

"That sounds brilliant. Alright, I'll call you a bit later then."

With that, Karen and Derek departed. Karen going to see Jimmy, and Derek going to see Ivy. Although Karen was unsure if she and Derek would be able to save Hit List, she had to stay optimistic, she had to stay hopeful, but she had to tell Jimmy as well.

Jerry's phone vibrated against the desk. Jerry shot a casual glance at the phone before rolling his eyes, immediately rejecting the incoming call from Scott Nichols. Jerry pressed a button on the intercom beside him, lowering his head slightly. "Henry, I need you to go ahead and call the ticket-holders for this week's shows and notify them of the cancellations."

"Yes, sir. Anything else?" a voice broke through the intercom.

"Yes... Let's keep this on the down low for now, okay? We don't need any more negative press, especially with word going around that our composer and lyricist is a drug addict."

"Understood."


	2. The Promise

"Wow... You're... You're pregnant..." Tom murmured.

"Yeah." Ivy smiled.

"Congratulations..."

"Thank you..."

Tom sat next to Ivy on her bed, Ivy's gaze focused on her reflection in the mirror in front of her. Ivy had called Tom over to discuss her future with Bombshell in light of her pregnancy. Of course, no one on Bombshell knew that she was pregnant with Derek's child, not even her own mother, Leigh Conroy. She'd been friends with Tom ever since being a part of the ensemble for Heaven on Earth, so she knew if she was going to tell anyone on the production team of Bombshell first, and she knew she'd have to eventually if she wanted to keep performing, she'd tell Tom.

"Sorry if I'm not reacting how you thought I would. I am excited for you, I really am. It's just hard for me to get my head around the fact that it's Derek's kid. I'm... assuming Derek knows..?"

"I told him the night of the Tonys."

"And what did he say?" Tom asked.

Ivy's mind drifted back to the night of the Tonys. She had tried to tell Derek beforehand about her pregnancy, and she'd reconsidered telling him several times within the same day. But it was when Derek showed up at the Tonys to accept his award, proclaiming that it was Ivy who gave him the strength to show up and eventually dedicating his award to her that she decided she would in fact tell him. "He said... He would do his best to make it work, for me and for the baby."

To be honest, Ivy wasn't so sure if Derek truly meant what he said. Ivy wanted to believe that Derek was a changed man, but with everything that'd happened with Karen, Daisy, even Rebecca... It just seemed to her like it would be difficult for Derek to change who he was, and he had tried, she knew that. Ivy blinked, and as she realized she had been subconsciously running her fingers along her stomach, she also knew that everybody makes mistakes.

Maybe Derek really could change...

"Does anyone else know? Your mother? Father?" Tom asked, Ivy turning to him.

"Aside from you, Derek and Sam, no one else knows."

"Ivy... I'm thrilled you told me, but don't you think your mother should know? I mean, she's in the show. She's bound to find out."

"I know exactly how she'd react if I told her. I don't want her to know about it just yet."

"Ivy-"

"Tom, please..." Ivy begged, cupping Tom's hands in hers. "You can't tell her. I need to be the one to do it. And for now, I'm not comfortable talking with her about it."

Tom smiled. He had done in the same in regards to Julia's affair with Michael Swift when Julia had told him about it before the casting of Joe DiMaggio for Bombshell. Though unfortunately, it didn't stop Frank from finding out about it. But just like then, he would strive to do his utmost to keep Ivy's pregnancy a secret, until she was ready. "Okay. I promise I won't tell her." Tom assured her. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know what I want to do. Part of me is thinking I should take a break from performing, but I _really_ want to stay with Bombshell."

"In that case, I really think Eileen should know. She is the producer after all..."

"I know. I'll drop by later today and tell her."

"Okay. Well, Eileen and I... We're not going to pressure you into doing something you're uncomfortable with. If you really think you should take a break, we can get your understudy to go on."

"Does Kate know all of the material?" Ivy asked.

"She knows all of act one, and most of act two. We may have to cancel a couple shows until we can get Kate familiar with the new stuff."

"Well then... could we maybe tone down some of the dancing? Make it more accessible for me? I don't want to strain myself, and I don't want to put the show in jeopardy."

"If you're sure that you want to keep going with the show, then I'll get right onto re-choreographing some of the heavier songs." Tom smiled.

"Thank you, Tom."

"We can get the ensemble in and retool whatever you think we should, but I'm afraid that's all I'll probably be able to do for you. I'll be getting together with Julia to start our next project very soon."

"Oooh... You're next project..." Ivy feigned cheek. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's a Movie Musical. Developed by Patrick Dillon."

"What's it about?"

"I... have no idea. Patrick's got all the information and I was supposed to have received a call from him by now, but I haven't. I feel like I'm going out of mind waiting."

"Well it's only been a few days..."

"Three days. Three _long_ days..." Tom droned.

The opening of the door to her apartment drew Ivy off her bed as Derek walked in. "Sorry about taking off like that, darling. Jerry needed to see me about Hit List." he apologized, giving Ivy a quick kiss on the cheek.

"What for?" Ivy asked.

"Because of what happened with Daisy, Jerry's making Karen and I look for her replacement, and we've got until next week or they'll shut us down." Derek explained. Tom cracked a smile as Derek seemed to only just notice him. "Oh. Hello, Tom."

"Hello, Derek." Tom smiled.

Derek turned back to Ivy. "So I'll be working with Karen at her apartment for the next few days to see if we can get this sorted out, I probably won't be able to come around as much until Hit List is back on track."

"Wait... You're gonna be holding auditions for a role in an apartment?"

"No, of course not. I've rented out a studio where we can hold auditions, but we obviously can't just leave it up to that. Karen and I will need to be actively looking for candidates as well."

"I'm sorry. I don't understand why you both have to be at the same apartment to Google, email or call potential candidates." Ivy stated.

Derek sighed. "Ivy, you have to understand that I'm under a lot of pressure here. If we don't find someone in a week, Jerry's shutting down Hit List, alright? We've sold out the entire run, and if we don't get this right, then all of that will be for nothing. Everything that I have done for the good of the show will have been for nothing. We've already lost Ana, Kyle and Jimmy, and I am _not_ about to let these last few months of my life, _and_ my career, be for nothing!"

"Okay, Derek..." Ivy muttered.

"I'm sorry." he murmured, apologizing for his outburst.

"I'm gonna go and see if I can get the ensemble together..." Tom murmured, getting up off of Ivy's bed and making his way to the door. Truthfully, he knew that, even though Ivy was one of his best friends, the current issue between Ivy and Derek was none of his business, so he thought that it would be best if he gave them some privacy. "I'll call you later."

Ivy nodded slowly. "Bye, Tom."

Tom smiled as he opened the door, before walking out and closing it behind him.

"Does he know?" Derek asked.

"He's practically my best friend. I had to tell him." Ivy drew air in before exhaling. "And I want to continue with Bombshell for as long as I can. Tom's prepared to rework some of the songs so that they don't put me under any strain." Derek sighed, Ivy raising an eyebrow. "What? Have you two not sorted things out yet? I thought that with the Tonys-"

"Nope. Everything's fine, Ivy. Just so long as our kid doesn't grow up calling him 'Uncle Tom'." Derek smirked.

Ivy laughed.

* * *

The crowd roared in approval as the lights shone past the members of Hit List. Once the lights dimmed, Karen saw that she and rest of the cast had received a standing ovation from the audience. Each member joined hands and took a collective bow before Jimmy pulled Karen close to him, pressing his lips against hers. To Karen, it seemed like that moment stretched on to eternity. She _wanted_ it to stretch on to eternity. Eventually though, their lips parted, and Jimmy uttered the words that Karen had waited for, that she had truly thought he would never say:

_"I love you too..."_

"That'll be twenty dollars and sixteen cents." The cab driver said, turning to Karen, who jerked her head up.

"Huh? What?" she asked, the memories of her Tony performance fading into her subconscious.

"Twenty dollars and sixteen cents." The driver repeated.

"Oh, sorry. Here." Karen said, taking out a twenty dollar bill and a one dollar bill. "Keep the change."

Karen undid her seatbelt and opened the door to the cab, before getting up and out, turning to shut the door behind her, the cab taking off almost immediately.

Karen didn't know what to do. She had just come back from another visit to the Lincoln Correctional Facility to try and get a hold of Jimmy, which she was unable to do. Strangely enough, she was more worried than irritated. If Jimmy got out of prison in six months only to find that what was essentially his life's work had been dead for that same amount of time, he probably lose it. She owed it to Jimmy to find another Diva. She owed it to _herself_ to find another Diva.

For now though, there was nothing she could do but wait for Derek to give her a call. As Karen walked down the busy streets of New York, masses of people merging into groups before breaking apart, she eventually caught sight of Caf_é_ Orlin. A wave of nostalgia seemed to pass through her as she recalled how she had been working there with Lianne as a waitress to support the fulfilment of her Broadway dreams.

The entire circumstance felt a little crazy to her. The last time she was there was to pick up her final paycheck before heading off to do the Bombshell previews in Boston, and she hadn't gone back since. She hadn't even thought about it at all until now. For some reason though, even though this was the first time in a long while that she had even recalled her work at Caf_é_ Orlin, she felt utterly opposed to going in, instead opting to continue on her way back to her apartment.

* * *

Leo and Julia walked though the New York University campus, taking in the sights of the buildings and stares of the other students.

"You didn't have to come with me, you know?" Leo muttered, finding it awkward that his mother was with him. He was eighteen now! Leo didn't need Julia policing him!

"If _I_ wasn't here, you wouldn't be here either." Julia said, turning to him. "I've seen your Facebook updates. You 'looking around at Colleges with Frank' was just you looking to have a good time, and I think now... Now's the time to focus on what you want to do with your life and where you want to go."

Leo groaned.

"I know I haven't been spending much time with you since we got back from Boston, and I take full responsibility for that, but I'm here now, and I'm ready to-" Julia stopped as her phone went off. She sighed, taking it out and looking at it for a few seconds. It wasn't a number she recognized, though after the fifth ring, she decided to answer it, slowly bringing the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Julia, it's Peter." The voice on the other end sounded, though Julia made no noticeable reaction. "Peter Gilman. The dramaturg?" He elaborated

"Oh, Peter! Hello!"

"I was just calling to congratulate you for winning the Tony for Best Score. I know how hard you and Tom worked on the show and, even though our version wasn't the one that was picked, I just want to say that I really did have a good time working with you."

"Thank you. I had a great time working with you too." Julia smiled.

"I'm very interested to see what your next project will be, but I've got to get going to see a performance of We Will Rock You." Peter paused. "If you're ever in London, just... give me a call, okay...?" he muttered.

"Sure... Bye, Peter." Julia chimed, Peter ending the call.

"Who's Peter?" Leo asked, Julia putting her phone away.

"I'm sure I told you about him before. He's the dramaturg Eileen got in to help with Bombshell. He just called to congratulate Tom and I on our win at the Tonys." Julia explained.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Congratulations!" Leo chuckled.

"Aw, thank you." Julia smiled, knowing of course that Leo was joking.

As the two of them reached the Bobst Library, Julia thought back to what Michael had said to her in bed. He was right, Leo deserved to know. He needed to know. "Hey, listen to me." Julia spoke softly, turning Leo to face her. "I need to tell you something really important."

"What about?"

"It's about Michael Swift."

"I know, okay?" Leo sighed. "Dad told me all about the letter. He was surprised that you said you weren't going to fight him, and you don't need to worry. He-"

"Leo." Julia interrupted. "Please listen." She urged, before continuing. "The night of the Tonys, I gave the letter to Michael. He invited me in and we talked for a little while. One thing... led to another, and then..."  
_  
_As Leo struggled to take in what his mother was telling him, the words of his father flashed through his mind, as he recalled the night his life changed forever.

_"You don't get to decide how this goes! Whatever you thought, before, was wrong! You thought that this would be, 'okay'! You thought that cheating is nothing! You thought 'He'll never find out', you thought 'He'll forgive me'. You thought... it doesn't mean anything..!"_

In spite of his pleas, Frank left the house that night, which signaled the beginning of the end of their lives together as a family. And now his mother had _slept_ with and wanted to get back together with the man who ruined everything. The man who used to be like an uncle or an older brother to him, but had no issue with destroying his family life. Leo didn't know how to react. He was completely speechless, shocked beyond belief.

"Leo..." Julia muttered, a concerned expression coming across her face from Leo's silence. Maybe this wasn't the right time to tell him. "Are you... okay?"

"Get away from me..." Leo whispered, narrowing his eyes in disgust.

"Leo..." Julia murmured, pained by Leo's simple words.

"You... You're sleeping with the man who ruined everything... Again! How could you?!" Leo shouted. Julia attempted to draw Leo closer to her but Leo moved back. "Get away from me!" he repeated, breaking into a run.

"Leo, wait!"

* * *

"Alright, everyone! We've got a fair bit of ground to cover today!" Tom announced to the company, consisting of Ivy, Bobby, Jessica, Sue, Kate, and many others, standing opposite him in the familiar wide-open dance studio that they'd all become accustomed to rehearsing in. Josh sat in an empty seat at a two-person desk next to Linda, the two of them silently observing. "I would just like to say first that I'm proud of the performance you all put on at the Tonys, but I feel that we need to make a few changes to the choreography. Not everyone is a triple-threat like Ivy, and other performers might have difficulty performing some of the steps."

"Oh, so we won't be using the new choreography for this season then?" Sue asked.

"Well I was thinking perhaps that we could develop this for an international run, see what sticks. You okay with that Ivy?" Tom asked, directing his attention to her.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled.

"Great! Let's get started then! Okay, so I was thinking that in terms of the first act, we change the choreography for 'The 20th Century Fox Mambo' to reduce some of the chair spins, with 'The National Pastime', we'll get rid of Ivy being thrown into the air, maybe focusing more on the Yankees. With 'Wolf', we get rid of the stage-jumping, and... just slow down Marilyn's movements in 'Lexington' and 'Cut Print... Moving On'."

"What?" Kate asked, an uneasy chatter working through the rest of the ensemble members.

"Josh, did you get that?" Tom asked, turning to him.

"Yep. Got it."

"Ivy, that fine with you?" Tom asked, turning to Ivy, who simply nodded as Tom turned back to focus on the ensemble. "Okay, second act!"

Jessica turned to Bobby as Tom began to rattle off the basic changes to the songs in the second act. "I don't believe this. The musical is about Marilyn Monroe... and he's giving _us_ more to do?"

"And Ivy's fine with it..." Bobby murmured, before his attention, as well as the rest of the ensemble's was drawn back in as Tom finished speaking. Tom walked over, pulling up a chair next to Josh, before planting himself down on it.

"Okay, everyone! Let's go! Five, six, seven, eight..."

* * *

Karen sat at the table in her apartment, once again glancing at Kyle's Tony Award. Karen was mystified. There was no other way to describe it. She felt like she was letting Hit List down through her inability to get into contact with Jimmy. She and Derek had given up Bombshell for Hit List and while at the time it seemed like the right thing to do, the situation she was currently in made her feel like she had ultimately made the wrong choice.

Karen sighed, looking at the time on her phone. It was late afternoon, and still no call from Derek. She tapped the table in boredom. There were plenty of things she could've been doing if she wanted to, but she didn't feel like doing anything. For some reason or another, she decided to get out her laptop and look at reviews for Hit List on the internet, which she hadn't really done in a while.

The reviews she found were very sporadic, a mix of stellar positive and the critically negative. Some were incredibly generous. "The biggest thing since RENT" one review summarized. Others... not so much. One reviewer called it "incredibly overrated", whilst another stated that it was "filled with clichés" and "barely watchable".

Karen shut her laptop. "I don't need this right now..." she muttered, closing her eyes and sitting back in her chair.

She sat in silence for a few minutes. Though her eyes were closed, she could still feel the light from outside trying to force its way into her eyes, creating a sort of orange hue. If she focused hard enough, she could picture that moment again with Jimmy at the Tonys and those final words he said.

_"I would do whatever I had to... to be the person you saw in me... and I can be that person now..."_

Though as hard as Karen tried, she couldn't picture Jimmy's face, only how he made her feel, and the words he had once spoken.

Karen's cell phone sounded once more, Karen waiting this time until the third ring to pick up and answer. Of course, she already knew who was calling.

"Hey, Derek." Karen smiled.

"Karen, I'm just calling to confirm if you're ready for tomorrow at eight o'clock? I've booked a rehearsal space we can use for auditions."

"Yep. Eight sounds good with me."

"Great. I'll come by your apartment say... half-past seven?"

"Yep. That's fine."

"Okay, I'll see you then..." he muttered, hanging up the phone almost immediately after.

Karen smiled.

* * *

"Alright, everyone! That's a wrap! Good work!" Tom cheered, a smile on his face.

As rehearsal wrapped up, a low gleam coming in from the window, the energy within and throughout the ensemble was high. Everyone really enjoyed the changes that Tom had made to the choreography. Though there was something that perplexed the ensemble during rehearsal.

What perplexed everyone in the ensemble was that, halfway through the first act, Ivy suggested that Kate take over and sing the rest of the songs as Marilyn while she and Tom observed, Ivy only coming back into the mix right before 'Don't Forget Me'. Eileen and Nick had come in to watch the second act, which to the ensemble was rather unexpected, in spite of Eileen being the producer of the show.

Eileen got up from her seat, walked over and gave Ivy a reassuring smile. "I liked what you and Tom have done with this..."

"You were great!" Nick added.

"Well thank you for allowing all of this. I really appreciate it." Ivy said.

"It's no trouble. If you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask. Tom and I will be happy to accommodate you and help you out with whatever you need."

"Thanks, Eileen. That means a lot..."

Jessica looked over at Ivy, who was making her way over to Tom, the two of them smiling and chatting.

"Does anyone else find this a little weird?" Bobby asked, bag on his back, as he and Sue came over to Jessica.

"What do you mean?" Sue asked.

"Well... Ivy didn't do any of the songs past 'History Is Made At Night' until the end. She hasn't hurt herself, has she?"

Jessica and Sue glanced at Ivy. "Nope."

"She's not ill...?"

"Nope!" Jessica and Sue repeated after another quick look at Ivy.

"She's not pregnant, is she..?"

Jessica and Sue looked at each other, the two girls suddenly giggling.


	3. The Last Stand

"Leo! Leo!" Julia called out, her cries echoing off of the walls of the Cantor Film Center. She had been wandering around all of the buildings belonging to the university, both inside and out, for hours trying to find Leo after losing sight of him in a crowd of students near the Library. Julia cringed. It was a stupid idea to tell him about Michael Swift here! She knew that now, but to her, it did indeed seem like a good a time as any. She didn't think that Leo would react the way he did.

Leo's cell was off, and Julia had left a great number of messages. All she could think about was how the last time this'd happened, she had indirectly driven him to run away from home and hide out with his High School buddy, Mason, after everything became too much for him to handle.

She didn't want to worry Tom like she had the last time Leo went missing. It wasn't his problem, it was her own. For all she knew, Leo could be anywhere. He might've left the campus and gone somewhere else, but there was also a chance that he was hiding in a vacant room on campus, _anywhere_ on campus, and it was for that reason that Julia continued her search.

Just as she was on the brink of losing it, Julia's phone rang. As quick as she could, she answered it, not even bothering to check who was calling. She prayed that it was Leo. It just _had_ to be Leo!

"Hello?!" she asked, her voice wavering.

"Julia. It's Frank." A voice came through the other end, Julia's heart beating faster. Of course Frank of all people had to call at one of the worst times imaginable!

Julia didn't want to alarm Frank, but she still felt like he had a right to know what had happened, but before she could form what words to say and how to say them, they just came rushing out in an almost incomprehensible stretch of words.

"Frank! Oh my God, Leo's gone missing! He-"

"Julia, stop. It's okay, he's here with me." Frank said slowly, trying to calm her down. For a split second, Julia's heart stopped and she didn't say anything. She was relieved beyond words to find that Leo was okay, but also silently praying that he didn't tell his father about her and Michael Swift. After all, if Leo reacted in such a bad way, then who knew how Frank would take the news, especially if he found out indirectly? "You might want to come over and talk to him. He doesn't seem to want to talk to me."

Julia sighed with relief. She figured if she was able to explain everything to Leo in a way that he could understand, then perhaps he'd be open to not telling Frank until she felt he could take it all in without overreacting, or at least get Leo on her side so that it would be easier to tell Frank if she had to.

"Okay, I'll be right over!" she assured him.

* * *

"Come in." Frank motioned, opening the door to his house... _Their_ house...

It was in the same exact shape it was in when Julia left. The candles on the furniture, stacks of paperwork on the kitchen counter. She could see the patio outside from where she stood, and as she did, she remembered talking to Leo about the adoption, and the high hopes the two of them had. In retrospect, it was something that Julia really did want, although with everything that had happened since then, the affair, the living apart, the brief reconciling and the eventual and unavoidable separation, she was glad in a way that she didn't have that to worry about on top of everything else.

Julia turned to Frank. It surprised her to see such an uneasy expression on his face. Come to think of it, when Frank had invited Julia in, he didn't sound as relaxed as he did on the phone. To Julia, it almost sounded as if he was trying to restrain himself from saying or doing something. Her heart skipped a beat as the possibility of Leo telling Frank everything re-entered her mind.

"Where's Leo?" Julia asked, almost at a whisper.

"He's up in his room." Frank explained. Julia began to make her way over to the staircase when Frank grabbed Julia's arm. "Hold on. We need to talk about something." Frank added.

Julia swallowed nervously. "What about?" she asked.

"You and Michael." Frank spoke softly, confirming Julia's suspicions. Julia opened her mouth to say something, but Frank cut her off. "Don't try to deny it! Leo told me everything!" Frank shut his eyes and attempted to calm himself down. Unfortunately for Julia, that didn't work so well. "Are you kidding me?! Michael?! Out of everyone you could have had a relationship with, you chose Michael! Why? How can you even go back to him after everything that's happened?!"

Julia didn't have to think long for an answer to Frank's question. She knew exactly what her answer was going to be. And she was proud of her answer in spite of Frank's anger. "I love him..." she said in an unmistakably determined tone.

Frank scoffed. "You mean how you loved me? Or is this 'the right way'?" he asked, referring back to what Julia had said to him a few days ago. "Now, I understand that we're in the middle of a divorce, and you have every right to date whoever you want, but this is where I draw the line! This isn't about me! This is about Leo! ...Are you proud of yourself? The example you're setting for Leo?"

"What example?"

"The example that it's okay to cheat on someone so long as that relationship evolves into something real. You told me that the affair was a mistake! That it was an accident! But you went over to his place with that letter! You obviously had some intention of getting back together with him!"

"Okay, I have heard _enough_!" Julia snapped. "You and I are not together anymore! You have no right whatsoever to dictate who I'm with. If you can't deal with it, that's your problem, but don't you dare try and justify how you feel by bringing Leo into this! I know he's upset... I don't blame him, but I'm trying to fix things and move on with my life while also trying to keep some sense of family, and you're not helping. You are _not_ acting like an adult, and if anything, you're the one setting a bad example for Leo!"

"Get out!" Frank yelled. "Get out now!"

In spite of Julia's prior surge of audacity, she was taken aback by Frank's sudden outburst. "Frank-"

"You know what? How dare you?! I was home with Leo every night helping him with his schoolwork while you were off writing your musicals with Tom. I've been looking after him for the past few months on my own while you've been working on your show, neglecting to spend time with him, and then I find out online that you were working closely with some kid to help him with _his_ musical as well! Not even your own!"

"...Who? _Kyle_?"

"You spent more time with him than you did with your own son, and you have the _gall_ to tell me that _I'm_ the one setting a bad example for Leo!" Frank shouted. "You have absolutely no excuse for not spending time with him! And I don't care what you have to say! We're done with this conversation... Now _leave_..."

* * *

Leo's eyes focused on the street below as he silently watched his mother leave the house and head down the sidewalk. Even from being so far away from her, Leo could tell that Julia was close to tears. He turned away from the window and walked over to his bed, crouching down to retrieve a backpack from underneath it.

Making his way down the steps as quickly and as quietly as possible, he moved to the door. Leo could hear Frank pacing in the master bedroom. Without making a sound, Leo opened the door. The cold late evening air almost seemed to attack him as he walked out and down the steps proceeding down onto the street.

He took one last look at his house, before turning and heading off down the street without another thought.

* * *

The sun beamed brightly, glossing over the skyline of New York City, bathing it in a warm glow. A new day had dawned, small amounts of people beginning to pour out onto the streets. A director knocked on the door of a young woman's apartment, a few seconds passing before the door opened, Karen stepping out and taking Derek's arm. The two of them chatted as they left the apartment complex, Derek hailing a cab as they reached the street.

While Derek was yammering on about something to do with Hit List as they got into the cab, Karen thought back to Jerry's ultimatum. Thinking about it now, it was a pretty ludicrous one. With everything that had gone on with Derek and his womanizing ways, the sexual harassment charges, Ana's fortunately-withdrawn-but-not-forgotten wrongful termination suit, did Jerry really think that people would be open to auditioning for a part in a Broadway show that he was directing?

"Hey, you alright?" Derek asked softly, turning to Karen.

"Oh, yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just asked what you thought... and you just kept staring at the seat..."

"Oh... Yes, I agree..." Karen muttered, not even really knowing what she was agreeing with, her eyes following the direction they were going. She could see the Brooklyn Bridge start to creep into her view. "So the audition space is in Brooklyn?" Karen asked, turning to Derek as the cab continued to move along the street.

"That's right." Derek smiled. "I think you'll recognize it once we get closer. Margot and Marissa will be meeting us there a little later on to talk offers at the end of the auditions if we get any."

"Who's gonna be providing the music?" Karen asked.

"Moira. She provided the instrumentation for the Bombshell auditions and thankfully, she agreed to help us out with this."

Karen nodded, turning ahead to face the seat in front of her as she attempted to hide her surprise at the fact that three women were willing to help Derek despite him being put on blast for his behavior in nearly every newspaper and magazine in the city that had something to do with musical theater.

Her eyes widened and a smile broke out across her face as the cab pulled up beside a building, the words '_Brooklyn Artsspace Entrance_' printed on a red sign which had an arrow pointing to a set of doors.

Derek took out a fifty dollar bill and left it on the seat as he helped Karen up off of hers as she undid her seatbelt.

A sense of familiarity overcame Karen as she looked over at all the surroundings. She could hear the waves brushing up against the dock, the seagulls crooning as they circled the skies looking for food, the boats blasting their horns as they traversed the gray waters.

"Shall we go in?" Derek asked. Karen nodded, still smiling.

The two of them clambered on up the steps as Derek opened the door for Karen and him. Karen's smile grew wider as she recalled the work she had done with Derek in the space, and how star struck she was upon learning that she would be working with Ryan Tedder, frontman of OneRepublic, for the project.

Before she knew what was happening, Karen found herself walking onto the stage, the colored lights lit dimly around her. To her left, she saw a keyboard laying flat on a stand.

Her smile left her face as she also recalled how poorly received her performance of the song 'Touch Me' was by Tom and Julia. She had really enjoyed the performance she'd put on, writhing around on the bed center stage, and had been so invested into putting on that good performance for them, that she didn't really think they'd take it the way they did. When they were outraged at Derek and Eileen's apparent betrayal, all Karen could do was apologize profusely as Tom and Julia looked on in anger and disgust.

"What are you thinking about?" Derek asked.

"The last time we were here..."

"Ah... yes..." Derek muttered, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and one of his fingers, recalling his brief fallout with Tom. There was so much anger in that one moment that he figured that what was said be best forgotten. He then opened his eyes and motioned for Karen to follow him to the seating where a desk had been set up. "I think that... In spite of what Julia, Tom... and Eileen thought, you were really great..." Derek muttered before smiling. "If Bombshell had've turned out like that, there would've been no need for Hit List."

"...Do you think we'll be able to save it...?" Karen asked.

Derek looked to the stage in front of him, and he remembered Karen and Jimmy performing 'Heart Shaped Wreckage' at the Fringe Festival. As performers, they were so in-sync, and had near-perfect chemistry on stage. To Derek, their performance was mesmerizing, and he had to admit that it was that performance that truly persuaded him to join Hit List. It was just a shame that Jimmy had such a poor attitude...

"There is not a single doubt in my mind..." Derek murmured. "Any girl would jump at the chance to play the Diva alongside you as Amanda, I'm sure of it..."

Karen once again found herself smiling from Derek's compliment. He had always complimented her, whether it be by saying that she had way too much talent to be a part of the ensemble for Bombshell, she made a lovely Marilyn for Bombshell, or that she was a star. There was just something about Derek that made Karen feel unlike anyone else, and it pained her to witness the state he was in before the Tonys, in spite of his womanizing ways. The way that Derek reacted was unreal to Karen. She thought that he would always be the same womanizer, the one who pretty much lured her to his apartment for a so-called private coaching session. But Derek showed real humility in admitting his faults. She hoped that, for Derek's sake, this whole thing with Hit List would be his turning point.

Karen found herself leaning towards Derek as the sound of a woman clearing her throat made her pull away.

"Moira... You're here early..." Derek noted, turning to the woman who wore a thick pair of glasses and had a clipboard in hand.

"I was told to be here at this time. And, there are already a few people waiting outside." Moira informed.

This time, it was Derek who decided to clear his throat. "Well don't just tell me that, do what you know you need to, and let's get this thing started." Moira nodded as Derek turned back to Karen. "You ready...?"

"Always..."


	4. The Fate of Hit List

A young woman scrambled on through the airport, immediately regretting having slept in once she realized that she now only had an hour, possibly less, to board her flight to New York.

She had been waiting for this opportunity for some time now. It had been ages since she had seen _her_, and she had been reading reviews online, not only about the show but about her talent as well. She couldn't believe what some of the people had said about her... about _him_...

She was her friend though, and she couldn't think of anything better to do than to support her friend and watch her perform on Broadway as the lead in her show.

She began to pick up the pace just a little as the crowds ahead of her began to dissipate, making it to the exit gate just as the boarding call began. Straightening herself up, she made her way over to the flight attendant, handing over her boarding pass as she waited to be given a final confirmation.

The flight attendant looked over the boarding pass and smiled, giving it back to the woman. "Welcome aboard, Miss Kenton. Enjoy your flight..."

* * *

Michael offered Julia an apologetic smile as he boiled the kettle. "I'm sorry about what happened with Frank..." he murmured.

"It's not your fault..." Julia mused, circling the countertop she was sitting at with one of her fingers. "I know that what I did was... wrong... leaving myself open like that but, he did have a point. I haven't been as attentive as I should, but I didn't do it for him, I did it for me... and Hit List..."

"Hey..." Michael cooed. "It's been a few days, right...?"

"I'm not talking to Frank anymore..." Julia sighed. "It doesn't matter what I do, something always goes wrong... So I'm just not going to do anything..."

"Julia, I made the choice to tell Monica about what happened between us, not because I felt like she had the right to know, but because I knew it was the right thing to do... for us..."

Julia's phone rang as she slid off the seat to pick it up. Walking over and retrieving her phone from the coffee table, she groaned, seeing that it was in fact Frank who was calling.

"It's Frank..." Julia muttered, turning to Michael.

"What are you gonna do?"

Julia smiled, muting the incoming call and walking back over to Michael as the kettle finished boiling. "I'm gonna have a cup of tea... maybe read a book..."

Michael smiled, fishing out the teabags from the cabinet. "I know that... almost everything I've done in the past year has affected you or your... family in some way... I don't want to pry though. Do what _you_ think is right. Do what _you_ want to do. Not what I want... Not what Frank wants... He needs to realize that you're your own person. Don't worry about what he thinks."

"You're right, Michael. Every time we talk, all he does is yell at me. Why should I subject myself to that? I've tried to do the right thing!"

"You _did_ the right thing... It's not your fault..." Michael smiled, sliding a cup of tea over the countertop. Michael's smile did more than show Julia kindness. It gave Julia a gentle reassurance that everything would work out in the end, so long as she had someone like Michael to love and support her.

* * *

The last auditionee finished a rather shaky rendition of 'Reach For Me' as the lights of the Brooklyn Arts Space faded back to their normal setting, wrapping up the auditions on an unfortunately negative note. Derek sat back in his seat, sighing to himself as the auditionee waited to hear the verdict.

"Thank you," Derek paused, peering down at his copy of the headshot he received from her. "Ashley. We'll be in touch."

Ashley bowed to the team, before walking off of the stage with a smile on her face and making her way out the door.

A long moment of silence followed. It seemed as though nobody knew what to say or do at this point.

"So what do you think?" Moira asked.

"Dreadful... the lot of them..." Derek muttered.

"They weren't _dreadful_..." Karen insisted.

"Darling, the Diva is Amanda's rival. Whoever plays her has to at least be on par with you. These poor girls could barely hold a note to save themselves..." Derek said, turning to Karen.

"Well then how about we talk offers?" Moira suggested.

"_Please_..."

Moira nodded, handing out the sheets of paper to the team. "The list was slightly out of date, but it has been amended." She explained.

"Why is Megan Hilty's name crossed out?" Derek asked.

"Since uh, the offer... she's decided to work with Sean Hayes on a television show. As I said, the list is an old one."

Derek sighed. "Is there anyone else on the list that's not supposed to be here? I don't want to get my hopes up for people who are unavailable." Margot's eyes widened, quickly scanning the names on the list as she retrieved a red pen from her breast pocket. Retrieving Derek's list from him, she began crossing off multiple names in pen as Derek looked on in chagrin. "Bloody Hell! There's what? Three names left! And none of them are fit to play the Diva!"

"Derek..." Karen muttered.

Derek quickly turned to face Karen, before snapping his head back to the list. "The deadline's tomorrow and we've got nothing!"

Karen of course knew the reason why they didn't have a Diva. Nobody wanted to be a part of Hit List, what with Derek as the director. If the auditions were for a male character, then there probably wouldn't have been an issue. But with everything that had gone on with the whole Daisy scandal... it was a long shot.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know..." Derek murmured. "Maybe this whole thing was a mistake..."

"Well you didn't know that Daisy would do what she did-"

"I meant... leaving Bombshell for Hit List..."

Derek's statement seemed to catch Karen off guard. It took a while for her to formulate an appropriate response in her mind, considering that she thought Derek would never say something like that, having been the first to leave Bombshell for Hit List. "You can't be serious..." she eventually said, unable to think of anything more to say.

"Look at what's happened, Karen. We've got no composer, no book writer, and now, no antagonist. Everything that Hit List was is gone now."

"Okay, so you wanna throw in the towel? Just like that?" Karen asked, finding it difficult to believe what Derek was saying.

"We don't have any other options. Jerry's fully prepared to pull the plug on Hit List... and besides, we gave it our best shot..."

"I can't believe you!"

"I know I've probably said it before, but there are other projects out there. You were brilliant as Marilyn, and you were brilliant as Amanda..."

It angered Karen that Derek was using past tense whilst talking about Hit List. "How can you be saying this?!"

"What? Do you think this is easy for me?! Letting go of Hit List?!" Derek shouted. "I had such high hopes for the show! For _you_ in the show! I believed in Hit List more than I ever did in Bombshell, and I know that I've made mistakes, both as a person and a director. But you can't honestly believe that after everything this show has had to go through that there is still life left!"

Karen sighed.

* * *

Tom sat in his living room, his eyes keenly focused on the board which housed all of the work that he and Julia had done for Bombshell. The flashcards and the sheet music were now accompanied by additional notations Tom had made in relation to the recent changes to the choreography and general structure of the show. He knew that he may need to get together with Julia and amend the book to make note of all of the changes made, which he hadn't yet done.

In fact, now that he thought about it, Julia probably didn't know about any of the changes that Tom had made, and Eileen had commissioned, not that she needed to though. There were no changes made to the script or the lyrics, after all. Though he knew it was the right thing to do to keep her in the loop and notify her of any changes to the musical.

Tom retrieved his phone from his pocket before bringing the phone close to him. He attempted to use the phone's voice dial to call Julia, but was cut off by the phone actually ringing. He brought the phone away to look at who was calling. It wasn't a number he had saved into his contact list nor did he recognize it.

Nevertheless, Tom swiped his finger across the screen before bringing the phone back up to the side of his face.

"Hello?"

"Tom, this is Brad Lee calling on behalf of Patrick Dillon." A young-sounding voice broke through the static on the line.

Tom's eyes widened as he couldn't help but smile. "Uh, hi... Brad!"

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to get into contact with you the past few days. There have been a lot of things that Patrick has asked me to take care of. He's been rather occupied lately himself." Brad's voice came through in an overly apologetic tone.

"Oh it's no problem." Tom smiled. "I understand completely how busy he must be."

"Well I'm calling just to say that he will be back in New York in a couple days and I'm hoping that he could maybe get together with you and a... Julia Houston I believe her name is... and talk about his upcoming project." Brad said.

"Yeah, that would... That would be great... Do you happen to have any information in regards to what exactly Patrick has the rights to?" Tom asked.

"No I don't, unfortunately." Brad apologised. "Will you and Julia be available Wednesday next week?"

"As... far as I know..."

"Okay, I'll make a reservation for the three of you at The NoMad for eleven o'clock."

"Sounds wonderful." Tom chimed.

"Alright then. If anything changes, I'll give you a call."

"Thank you, goodbye."

"Bye."

Tom brought his phone away from his face, the smile hanging across it unmistakable. He'd be such a terrible liar if he said that his kiss with Patrick at the Tonys wasn't at the forefront of his mind ever since it happened. And now Tom had another reason to call Julia, which was also a good thing.

Tom turned to look at his reflection in the piano.

_"'Glass closet' my ass. That door is wide open..."  
_

* * *

Traffic beamed past Karen and Derek, the two sitting just outside Table 46, which at the moment was closed for renovation as the two had found out upon arriving. Karen and Derek had just come from a meeting with Jerry, who had asked about the progress made into finding a replacement for Daisy.

Derek took it upon himself to act as the spokesperson and informed Jerry that they'd had no such luck in finding a new Diva, Jerry accordingly stating that he would be pulling out of Hit List and have it shut down. This of course came after the ensemble had also been notified, most if not all of the female members blaming Derek for what happened.

Since then, Karen had not said a single word. She tried as hard as she could to make herself believe that she was dreaming, as it was the only sort of solace she had. She couldn't believe it was all real. But it was.

"Karen..." Derek mumbled. "I'm really sorry."

"If you _were_ sorry, you wouldn't have slept with Daisy." she retorted, breaking the silence.

"I think you and I both know that it wouldn't have mattered either way." Derek said, turning to her. "Jimmy's gone-"

"You don't think I know that? Aside from Hit List, he's all I've been thinking about, and now I've let him down."

"It was just as much our work as it was his, Karen. Jimmy might've helped create Hit List, but you brought it to life. All Jimmy did was get high on coke or act like a bloody twelve year old... I preferred you with Dev honestly. At least _he_ was British..."

"This isn't the time for joking around, Derek..." Karen mumbled.

"Look, you didn't let Hit List down. Jimmy did..." Derek paused, willing himself to do something that he wasn't prepared to do. "I did... but not because I called it quits. That doesn't have anything to do with it. We tried, you and I, to make Hit List what we wanted it to be." Karen's downed expression hadn't changed, so Derek decided to add: "I promise I'll make it up to you..."

"Karen!"

The voice of a young woman calling out her name drew Karen's focus away from Derek and across the street. Her eyes widened as she watched the woman make her way towards her from a crosswalk. Karen smiled, her face lighting up. "Hailey!" she shouted, getting up and rushing over to the red-headed woman who looked to be the same age as her. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well I _had_ to come see you..." Hailey explained.

"You came all the way from Iowa?"

"Of course I did!"

"When did you get in?"

"Last night." Hailey smiled. "I've wanted to come and see you perform for ages, but when I saw that performance you gave at the Tonys which someone posted on YouLenz, I just knew that now would be the perfect time. Plus, I just miss talking to you, seeing you. It's not the same if we talk on the phone or text." Hailey paused, noticing Karen's now somber expression. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"Hit List is dead... We just came from a meeting about it..." Karen muttered.

"I'm sorry..." Hailey apologized. "Well... you were in Bombshell too, right? There's _bound_ to be other projects out there for you!"

"That's exactly what _I_ said..." Derek smiled, walking over to the girls. "Hi, Derek Wills." he introduced himself, offering the girl a handshake.

"Hailey Kenton..." she replied, accepting Derek's handshake.

Karen was surprised to see such... restraint from Derek. "So how do you know Karen?"

"Wait, so you haven't mentioned _me_?" Hailey asked Karen, feigning offense. Hailey laughed. "I'm kidding! We went to Dubuque Senior High School together. Junior year, we did The Sound of Music. She played Maria, and I played... Elsa."

"I see... so you're a stage performer as well I presume...?"

"Well not really..." Hailey giggled. "I work as a pharmaceutical sales representative and... occasionally at the Country Club close to where I live... But this one here," Hailey paused, poking Karen in the arm several times over. "Is awesome! She's been taking dance, acting and singing classes ever since she was in elementary school!"

"You don't need to sell me to him..." Karen blushed. "I've been working with him since the year began... He knows what I can do."

"I know, it's just..." Hailey trailed off.

As Derek looked away from the two girls and towards the direction of the Brill Building, a thought popped into his head. He smiled.

"I think I know just who can help us..." he muttered.


	5. The Realization

Eileen sat behind her desk as she stared out the window of the Brill Building, her eyes focused on the advertisement for Bombshell set on a large billboard several blocks away from her, but luckily still within viewing distance. She had been feeling rather peculiar as of late, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

It wasn't sadness, because she really didn't have a reason to feel sad. After everything that'd happened in the past year with Nick and the divorce with Jerry, Bombshell was finally going to Broadway, and she'd be at the helm of it all with Ivy as her star.

But even with all that, she was still unsure. There was something amiss. Something didn't feel right.

Perhaps it was because, as far as she knew, everybody had a project to go on with. Karen and Derek had Hit List, Ivy had Bombshell, and Tom and Julia were going to be working with Patrick Dillon on a movie in the near future. Eileen didn't have another project lined up as of yet, and she desperately wanted to use the momentum that she had gained from the Tonys to her advantage.

"Eileen, don't stress. You're a fantastic producer and an amazing woman." Nick smiled from the chair opposite Eileen's desk. The two of them had planned an afternoon together to not only celebrate Eileen's win at the Tonys, but also the rekindling of their relationship. Eileen had decided to pop by her office to follow up on a couple phone calls she had to make, the information in relation to those phone calls at her desk, but it was taking far longer than she had expected, especially once she caught sight of the Bombshell poster.

"I never said I was stressing... I'm just concerned..."

"Don't be." Nick cooed. "You won a Tony, from a show that just started up at the beginning of the year. Now I don't know much about Broadway, but I'm pretty sure that that doesn't happen to just anybody. Look, just... take some time and relax. Ivy will do great work and you've done a great job supporting her."

Eileen and Nick turned to the door where, just outside, the muffled voices of two individuals could be heard. Eileen recognized the two almost immediately. One was her assistant, and the other was Derek. She wasn't expecting to talk to Derek today, though Eileen found out that it would probably be best if she did, as the door to her office swung wide open as Derek, Karen and Hailey walked in.

"Eileen, we need to talk!" Derek shouted.

As her eyes met with Eileen's, almost immediately, Hailey stopped in her tracks. "Wow... You're Eileen Rand. My name's Hailey Kenton. I'm a huge fan of your work!" she gushed.

Eileen smiled at Hailey, before turning to Derek.

"What are you doing here, Derek?" Eileen asked.

"I need to ask you for a favor..." Derek muttered. "Jerry's done away with Hit List, and I... we need you to talk to him..."

"I didn't know that's why we came here..." Karen muttered.

Eileen shook her head. "What do you mean Jerry's done with Hit List?"

Derek took a deep breath. "Jerry fired Daisy, and then asked _us_ to find her replacement, because we didn't have one lined up. We had a week and he said that if we weren't able to find a replacement, he'd pull the plug... and it's been a week..."

"We just came from a meeting..." Karen added.

"Well what do you want _me_ to do?" Eileen asked.

"Talk to him... Get him to reconsider!" Derek almost demanded.

"Derek, I have no control over what he does. And even if I did, and he continued on with Hit List, that still wouldn't change the fact that you don't have someone ready to play the Diva."

Derek put his palm to his face, running his fingers down before sighing and turning to Hailey. "You! You said you did Sound of Music with Karen in High School. Have you been in any proper productions since then? Can you sing? Can you dance?"

Hailey's eyes focused on Derek's. "Wh... what? I... Yes?"

"How would you like to be the Diva, for Hit List?" Derek offered.

"Wait... are you serious?" Hailey asked

"Just answer the question!" Derek groaned.

"Yeah... um, okay..." Hailey murmured, her mind going ten to the dozen to keep up with what Derek was saying. It was fair to assume that Hailey didn't really understand the full scope of what Derek was asking. That was understandable of course. While Hailey had in fact had some professional vocal training and was a fairly decent dancer, she still didn't know much about what it would take to get an actual show to Broadway, and she knew even less about starring in one.

"There! We've got a Diva! Now can you please talk to Jerry?" Derek asked, turning back to Eileen.

"I'll try. But getting him to listen to me will be like trying to get blood from a stone."

"Thank you..." Derek smiled. "Come on..." he motioned to the girls to follow him out of Eileen's office.

"So wait, do I really get to play the Diva?" Hailey asked.

"I haven't even heard you sing yet, have I?" Derek smiled. "Look, if Eileen persuades Jerry to give us another chance, I'll let you audition. And if I like what I hear, and Jerry approves, you can be the Diva."

Hailey clasped her hands together in joy. "Yes!"

Karen smiled, herself delighted by Hailey's pleasure.

* * *

Ivy clenched her hands on the septic tank in front of her, her face devoid of almost all color as it hung over the toilet bowl.

She had been like this for a few days now, tired, irritable, alone. On this particular day, she had been feeling rather unwell and found herself awake at the early hours of the morning with a need to go to the bathroom, and she had more or less stayed there for the entire day. She knew that her sickness was more than likely due to her pregnancy, and she didn't want to leave for fear of another sudden need to use the bathroom... or any bathroom for that matter. But now because of that, Ivy was alone.

"Damn it, Derek..."

It was all his fault! He had told Ivy that he would do his best to make things work and that he would be there for the baby, but so far all he'd done is show how absent he can be by going off and doing auditions with Karen without so much as a second thought, phone call or email.

_Karen_...

No doubt _she_ had something to do with it, just like she always did! There had to be more to it than what Derek had said. She wouldn't, couldn't put it past either of them, considering Derek's history with her.

But he _said_ that he would make it work! He wouldn't have just said that to keep Ivy happy, would he? No! What Karen did or would do was completely up to her, but Ivy had faith that Derek wouldn't do anything to jeopardize their relationship.

_He wouldn't, would he?_

"So that was Eileen... Jerry's not budging..." Derek muttered, putting his cell phone away as he turned to the girls.

"Well it was a long shot anyway..." Karen muttered.

"Even so, you'd better go see if you can get a hold of Jimmy. I think he should know what's going on... even if he might flip out..." Derek added. "I think I might head home... It was nice meeting you, Hailey..."

"You too..." Hailey smiled as Derek left Karen's apartment. "So what do you want to do now then?" she asked.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed..." Karen murmured.

"What?! It's only five thirty?!"

"Yeah, I know... You can sleep in Ana's room if you want."

Hailey watched with concern and confusion as Karen walked right past her and into her bedroom. Karen shut the blinds and the curtains as the darkness crept into the room. She wanted to escape from the, to put it bluntly, horrible time she'd had the last few weeks. Not only did she not win a Tony, but she had also lost Jimmy and Hit List.

She couldn't go and see Jimmy right now, not while she felt like this. If she did, and Jimmy flew off the handle, it would just end up making her feel worse. The best thing to do in her eyes was get some sleep, and if she was feeling better when she woke up, she'd go and see Jimmy the very next chance she got.

That was the plan, but as she slept, within the midst of this dream, filled with reminders of past wishes and desires, new feelings and thoughts came to her. At first, everything she felt overwhelmed her, but bit by bit, everything began to fall into place and she made sense of it all. Finally, she could see everything more clearly than she ever had in the past year.

It was Jimmy's fault.

Most, if not all of the problems she had faced in the past few months had stemmed from him in some way. Getting involved with the creation of Hit List made her question her role as Marilyn Monroe in Bombshell, the part which was everything that she came to New York to do. And while it was Derek who left Bombshell for Hit List first, she couldn't deny that he was a part of the reason why she left as well.

Jimmy's constant guilt-tripping didn't help either. In fact, it was one of the things that deterred her the most from joining Hit List in the first place. She couldn't believe that she thought nothing at the time of Jimmy's anger at her for not leaving Bombshell, which to be fair had just been suffering though some legal issues, for Hit List, which at that point was probably the furthest thing from Broadway.

She had to take some of the blame though. It was foolish to get Jimmy to open up to her. She knew there was something about him ever since she heard him playing the song 'Broadway, Here I Come!' after Table 46 had closed down for the night. There was something more to it than just a struggling musician who was working his way through life as a bartender. And of course, she was right.

Jimmy did have a dark and troubled past, and she knew that he had truthfully had a hard time deciding whether or not to tell her, but was it really necessary? If Jimmy truly loved her like he claimed he did, he wouldn't have put the strain on their relationship by confessing his umpteen year old crimes to the police without first telling her. It was almost as if he was actually trying to create problems for their relationship outside of showing up late to rehearsals and photo shoots while wasted or high.

Maybe Jimmy's admission to the Lincoln Correctional Facility was a sign.

Maybe it was time to let him go.

* * *

Daisy sat on a barstool at The Bushwack, stirring some gin with her finger as she let out an audible sigh. She couldn't believe it. It had taken her ten years of auditions, callbacks, frequent rejections, and teaching Pilates to get a part in a Broadway show only to have the rug ripped out from under her.

And unlike with the Tonys, Jerry wasn't on her side. In fact, Jerry didn't seem to be on anyone's side. He just seemed to want the money, and with the trouble that Hit List had been going through, she could see how he thought it might be difficult for the show to recoup the investments that Jerry had made and was planning to continue on making.

The worst part in her eyes was that she was effectively back to square one. In spite of the positive publicity she had received both leading up to and during the Tonys, she had so far received no offers for leading roles in shows, or even ensemble roles. For the moment it seemed as if the impact of the Tonys was minimal for her and she didn't want it to stay that way forever. She yearned to be up on that stage, performing in front of a crowd, the applause drowning out all other sounds.

She deserved to have that experience again, and she wasn't going to let Jerry or anyone else stand in her way.

Daisy sighed once more, picking up the glass in her hand before pressing her lips against the tip of the glass and almost forcing the gin down her throat.

"Jerry..." she whispered. "Need to get a new show..."

Out of the corner of Daisy's eyes, she saw a well-dressed man begin to walk up to her, before taking a seat next to her at the bar. "Hi!" he greeted.

"Hi..." she replied with minimal enthusiasm, glancing at the man for a few seconds. He wore a navy blue suit and a matching tie with same-color pants. There was something about him, both mysterious and familiar at the same time.

"You're Daisy Parker, right?"

"Yes...?"

"I'm... sorry to intrude, but did I just hear you mention Jerry Rand?" The olive-skinned young man asked.

"I did... What's it to you?"

A cheeky, yet almost menacing smile appeared on the young man's face. "I have a proposition for you..."


	6. The Decision

Ivy's breathing was shaky and erratic as she stared at herself in the mirror, her hands resting on her bare stomach. She attempted to calm herself, though her nerves wouldn't dissipate. She found it impossible to shake the feelings of worry, stress, and concern that seemed to take hold of her mind.

For some reason, the entire situation reminded her of what had happened at Heaven on Earth all those months ago, how she had overdosed on prescription drugs and subsequently found herself briefly losing touch with reality. It seemed that since the lead up to the Tonys, she was beginning to find herself going back to how she was before.

Looking at herself now, she wasn't sure that having a baby was truly what she wanted. She had fought so hard for Bombshell, for Marilyn. And even though she had worked with Tom and Eileen on fixing some of the choreography and pacing, there was still a part of her that felt having a baby wouldn't be good for her career, especially at this stage.

But the baby was Derek's as well, and even though she was truthfully leaning towards the option of terminating the pregnancy, she couldn't do it without first talking to Derek about how she felt, not only about their relationship but also his relationship with Karen, which seemed to only grow stronger with each passing day.

Keeping one hand on her belly, she grabbed her phone and called Derek using voice dial, waiting a couple of seconds before Derek picked up.

"Ivy, what?" Derek snapped.

"I, uh... Hi, Derek. I need to talk to you about the baby."

"I'm not really in the mood to talk about the baby right this second..."

"But Derek-"

"Look. You do whatever you think, okay? Whatever it is that you're wanting to ask my permission for, it's up to you. I'm just really not in the mood right now..."

"Well... why did you answer the phone?" Ivy asked.

"Why did I indeed..." Derek muttered as he hung up on Ivy.

Ivy couldn't believe that Derek had just hung up on her. She brought her phone away from her face and then checked the screen which informed her that Derek had in fact ended the call. To Ivy, it felt forced, like Derek was trying to find any reason at all to cause tension. After all, if he didn't want to speak to her, he could've just as easily declined the call or waited until the phone would stop ringing. But he didn't. He picked up seemingly just so he could display his anger to Ivy, which confused her.

In spite of this confusion however, it was now ever clearer in Ivy's mind what she had to do...

* * *

"Nice place you've got here..." Daisy muttered, looking around at the apartment she had found herself in after accepting an invitation to come back there to talk a supposed business proposition. It was very spacious, the furniture few and far between, but the place didn't look empty, nor did it feel empty.

"Thank you." The boy said, walking ahead until he had reached the kitchen counter, a marble top. "Would you like a drink?" he offered.

"I was just drinking twenty minutes ago..." Daisy muttered. The boy didn't move, instead wiggling an empty wine glass between his two fingers. "Okay, one drink..."

The boy grinned, briefly returning to the kitchen to get another glass and a very expensive bottle of _Dom Pérignon. _"Here you go." He said, after pouring two half glasses and handing one to Daisy."Thank you." Daisy smiled, taking a sip of the wine in the glass before putting it down on the small table in front of her. "I'm sorry. When we spoke at the bar, I didn't catch your name."

"Ellis Boyd. I'm hoping you've heard of me. After all, _I_ was the one who came up with the idea for Bombshell."

"Really?"

"Yep. _And_ I was the one who got Rebecca Duvall to come in for the show. I was basically a producer, but Eileen _refused_ to give _me_ any credit..."

"Why didn't you try and fight her on it?"

"Eileen Rand's attorney is a beast. One of the best in New York. It would've taken up far too much of my time, and made me waste all of my money to get someone even comparable to her, much less fight her on it... So in the end... I opted for something else..."

"Which was?"

"I can't tell you yet. Not until I know where you stand..."

"So why did you invite me here?"

"I wanted to offer you something. The leading role in a musical that I'm producing. Well... it's not a new musical, it's a revival. Of Brigadoon."

Daisy became struck with intrigue. "Really? Wow I'm... I'm... So I would play Fiona?"

"That's right."

"Who's directing?"

"I... haven't gotten anyone yet. I wanted to see if I could cast the male and female leads first. I was thinking of somebody like Brier Owlets, but at this point I'm not really sure." Ellis sighed, looking away.

"Brier Owlets? He's a legend!" Daisy exclaimed.

"I was talking to him on the phone yesterday about a revival of Brigadoon and he seemed very interested. He said he'd love to be a part of it, so now I'm waiting for another call from him to talk additional details." Ellis paused, returning his gaze to meet with Daisy. "So... what do you think?"

"Well, how much would I be getting paid?"

Ellis broke into a smile before straightening up. "Well, I don't really have any specifics at the moment, but... Look, I've seen what you can do. I saw you perform in Hit List. You're fantastic... I also know what you've been through with Derek."

"Derek Wills?"

"Yep. I've read all about what happened. You certainly don't deserve any of it. I can promise you that, if you accept my offer, you won't regret it. So... What do you think? Do we have a deal?"

* * *

Pots, pans and kettles hugged the ceiling as they rested on the woodwork above the tables and booths that comprised the floor of The NoMad. The restaurant was surprisingly barren, in that all of the tables were made up, but only two or three people were actually sitting down and having a meal.

"Hi, table for three under 'Levitt' please." Tom smiled at the hostess, who checked the book and nodded.

"Right this way..." she said, directing him to his table, which in reality was a booth beside the window with two extra seats. The candle in the middle of the table shone brightly as its light reflected off of the gold-colored backs of the seats. "Will you be wanting anything at the moment?" she asked.

"No... not right now..." Tom smiled. The hosted nodded, before returning to her position at the entrance. Tom sighed. It was always like this. Seeing as the two of them didn't come together, Julia was either going to arrive incredibly early or fashionably late. And since Tom had arrived a little early, it meant that Julia would be late. That's just how it seemed to be.

Tom grinned, looking over at his surroundings, that of course being a framed mirror and two ornaments sitting on the windowsill behind him. He squinted as he looked up, the light pouring directly into his eyes. He flinched and then noticed that Julia wouldn't be late after all.

"Sorry." Julia apologized. "I got confused as to whether we were meeting at the restaurant or the hotel."

Tom chuckled, getting up out of his seat and giving Julia a quick hug. "The hotel is certainly a more romantic setting isn't it? But no, I'm certain that this is where Patrick wants to meet us. Anyway, we haven't really spoken since the Tonys. How have you been?"

Julia smiled, taking the seat next to Tom. "I... have been great..."

"That's fantastic to hear."

"How have _you_ been?"

"...Busy, having to rework a couple things for Bombshell. I think the ensemble might be catching on that something's up with Ivy."

"Well she's gonna get to a point where it'll be impossible to hide that she's pregnant."

"That's true!" Tom chuckled. "But Ivy's told me that she doesn't want to worry about that right now. She is an adult, so she can make her own choices. When she's ready, she'll tell people."

Julia's phone beeped, and she took it out to look at it. "Sorry... it's Michael. Would you know when this meeting will be finished? He and I have plans for the afternoon."

"Wait, you and Michael _Swift_?" Tom asked.

"No, Tom. Michael _Riedel_..." Julia muttered, the sarcasm incredibly obvious in her tone. "Of course Michael Swift..."

"So you and he...? What about Frank and Leo?"

"What _about_ Frank and Leo?" Julia pressed.

"Well, do they know?"

"I told Leo, he ran off and told Frank. I went to talk to Leo about it but I got an earful from Frank, so I'm not speaking to him anymore. It's got nothing to do with him, and if he can't act like a responsible adult for Leo's sake, why should I bother trying to reason with him?"

"You know, ignoring someone like that isn't exactly adult behavior either..." Tom noted.

"Tom! You're supposed to be on _my_ side!" Julia groaned.

"I am. Look, you being with Michael is none of my business, and if you two can make it work, I'm happy for you, but you have to see where Frank's coming from, and Leo too. Especially Leo."

"I hate it when you're right like this..." Julia muttered, a silence following. "You worried?"

"What for?"

"Well, what if this whole thing turns out to be similar to what happened with Peter? Well not all of it, just the first bit. You know, where he lies and gets us to jump through hoops for him, and it turns out that-"

"You know that Patrick's not like that..." Tom muttered, though Julia's comment did raise some concerns with him.

"I hope so... We _did_ only speak to him a couple times..." Julia murmured, the two of them looking towards the entrance for any sign of Patrick, but he was still nowhere to be seen. "Oh, hey! Did you hear about what happened to Brier Owlets?"

"No, what happened?"

"Well apparently he was pulled over for a DUI _again_ and so the studio let him go."

"Serves him right..." Tom muttered.

Both Julia's and Tom's eyes drifted to the front as they saw Patrick Dillon approach them, well-dressed, and as Tom would say, looking _very_ dashing.

"I apologize for my lateness. I was trying to send some emails out and the computer crashed..." he said, extending his hand to Julia and then to Tom, who both accepted and shook.

"That's okay, Patrick. I was a little early."

"So what have you got for us?" Julia asked.

"Well," Patrick began, taking out a file from a bag he had brought with him. "I've got the rights to To Sir, with Love, and this is who I've gotten so far apart from you two for the creative team."

Tom took one look at the file and gave it back to Patrick. "Nope. Sorry. Not doing it." he protested.

"Tom?" Julia asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not co-directing with Ross Kryachok!"

"I'm sorry. There appears to have been a miscommunication somewhere. I wanted the two of you to write the lyrics and the music to all of the songs for the movie. I've already got Ross to direct."

"What?" Tom asked.

"Look, with Bombshell you proved that you were a great director of musicals. Stage musicals. Basically, one of the only similarities between a stage musical and a movie musical is that there are songs. And I do think that, because of your limited directing experience, that I needed to hire someone who's more fit as a director. Who's done movies before. And the two of you can play to your strengths. In Bombshell, the music was phenomenal. In Boston, people thought that the book suffered a little. With To Sir, with Love, you can put more of a focus on the songs themselves instead of trying to spread yourselves too thin... You can work off the script instead of building the two concurrently."

"I am not comfortable working with that man in _any_ way."

"Tom had a brief uh... fallout with him a while ago." Julia explained.

"Fallout?" Tom asked incredulously. "No, we had a _war_! It was one thing to have Derek and the paparazzi on my back, but to have someone else so..." Tom exhaled.

"Tom... That was years ago!" Julia sighed.

"Is there anyone else that you can get to direct?" Tom asked. "Michael Bay, Tim Burton, I don't care who else, just not Ross Kryachok!"

"Tom, I've already offered him the directing role. I can't go back on my offer."

"Wait, so he's _already_ directing? What material has he got?" Tom asked.

"He's got a draft of the script. He's making notes on it."

Tom's mind was going a mile a minute. When he first spoke to Patrick at the Tonys, he had been under the assumption that his musical was more or less an idea, and that no real work had been done. From what he and Julia had been told now was that the musical had in fact been conceptualized and that work had already started on it. He did feel a little misled by what was going on, and what he had been told.

Julia however did agree with what Patrick was saying for the most part. Tom was still a newcomer in the directing world and did lack some experience, although he would never admit it. Directing To Sir, with Love probably wouldn't even suit him, especially as a movie musical as opposed to a stage musical. Julia also thought that Patrick having her write the lyrics to the songs, instead of alongside the book, was a good decision to make. She was able to work well with Peter Gillman in writing a new draft for Bombshell, which was of course a new, original musical, and she wasn't sure that she would be able to do something like To Sir, with Love, which was already a perfectly respectable film, justice.

"I think a musical version of To Sir, with Love is a great idea, Patrick." Julia smiled.

"Julia?" Tom asked.

"Tom, you have to let go of what Ross did to you. Look at Derek. He's a changed man. I bet Ross has changed too. Besides, you shouldn't let Ross directing dictate whether or not you want to be a part of the project. And To Sir, with Love is a fantastic idea." Julia sighed as Tom made no noticeable change in expression. "Tom, I can't make this decision for the two of us. You have to be on board as well..."

"If you don't want to do it, that's fine. I completely understand." Patrick added.

Tom really didn't care what movie he would be doing with Patrick and Julia, or that he wasn't directing it. The only thing that was holding Tom back from accepting the offer was Ross. Ross was basically a textbook example of a horrible human being. Unlike with Derek, he didn't sleep with the female actors in his shows, but he had a terribly short attention span and was incredibly set in his ways. He knew that if he was to work on To Sir, with Love with Ross, or let alone _any_ project with Ross, he wasn't going to have a good experience. But he couldn't let Julia down, and he really wanted to spend some more time and get to know Patrick a little better.

_Especially since the two of them were eventually gonna get married..._

Tom was just about to give Patrick and Julia his answer when a waiter approached the table. "Are you ready to order...?"


	7. The Relapse

"Times Square certainly is... big..." Hailey marveled, she and Karen currently mixed in amongst a sea of other people, skyscrapers and billboards. Hailey was overwhelmed to say the least. Having grown up in Dubuque and never having traveled even interstate, she felt a little out of her depth, which was to be expected, having only so far spent a few days in New York.

"Don't worry, you get used to it. Though this is only Duffy Square. Wait 'til I show you the rest." Karen smiled.

"Can't wait..." Hailey mumbled, keeping both arms close to her shoulder bag. "So hey, I've been meaning to ask you, when did you move out of your old apartment?"

"A few months ago..." Karen muttered. "Things with Dev... didn't go well in the end..."

"Wha~? But he was so _nice_! What happened?" Hailey asked. Karen sighed as she stopped walking. Hailey twitched. "I'm sorry... If you don't want to talk about it, we can drop it right now..."

"It's just... I haven't really talked to anyone about what happened. Even Ana doesn't know the full story."

"Well do you wanna talk about it? I mean, if you haven't told anyone, maybe it would just be good to get it all out."

Karen sighed once more. "You're right. For the past few months I haven't really thought about what happened, but now... Let's just get out of all this traffic first..."

Hailey nodded and the two of them made their way over to the McDonald's, heading in and sitting down at a vacant table. Hailey grumbled as she felt her footwear stick to the floor, which as she noticed once she looked down, had seemed to recently have had Coca Cola spilled on it. The two of them sat as far to the front of their seats as they could, Hailey leaning in closely as she asked: "So, what exactly happened between you two...?"

* * *

Ivy stood alone on the stage, a single light shining down from above. She exhaled, and the audience roared in approval. As the lights around the stage grew bright once more, she saw most, if not all of the theater patrons give her a standing ovation, just as they had every night before. It didn't matter how many times she sang 'Let Me Be Your Star' or 'Don't Forget Me', she would never tire of it. For years she'd had minor roles in Hair, Heaven on Earth and Wicked, Ivy just being another face in the crowd, the audience generally cheering for the star of the show, which of course Ivy wasn't. But now, the audience was cheering for _her_, because Ivy was a star, and she loved every second of it.

The blue hue faded into a white haze as the pit orchestra began playing a shortened rendition of 'Let Me Be Your Star', the rest of the cast joining Ivy on stage. Ivy bowed, gesturing to both sides as she joined hands with Simon Martin, who played John F. Kennedy, and her mother, Leigh Conroy, who also happened to play Gladys Baker. Ivy straightened up as her mother gave her a warm reassuring smile before the entire cast took a bow.

Her heart was still racing, as it always did at the end of a performance, but it was different this time. It wasn't just because of the performance. She couldn't focus. She had something else on her mind.

Ivy was lucky enough that what she had going on had yet to play up in her performance. She had yet to make an awkward exit off stage to take an emergency trip to the restroom, and she was able to bring the same high energy she had during the opening night to each and every performance.

It might have been the strain she had been putting on her voice, another bout of morning sickness coming on, or something else entirely, but tonight, irregardless of what it was, Ivy Lynn was not doing too good. As the cast let go of each other's hands, Ivy brought one of hers up to her mouth as she took in as much air as she could through her nose. Ivy knew what she had to do. She turned and began walking briskly off the stage.

"Ivy! Where are you going?!" Leigh called to her. Ivy didn't respond, continuing to walk through the exit and make her way towards the women's restroom. Setting herself down inside a cubicle, she pulled up the lid of the toilet and clamped her hands onto the seat. While there had been times that she had felt rather unwell during performances, she had managed to keep it together for the most part. Unfortunately for her now, this wasn't a time that she could keep it together. Something was going to give.

And it did.

She was there for several minutes, until the restroom door burst open and Leigh and Jessica clambered on in. "Ivy, are you alright?" Jessica cooed, Leigh and herself standing outside the cubicle door.

Ivy groaned as she attempted to restrain herself. She was not hoping for this. It was one thing for her to have an upset stomach and have to leave the stage as quickly as possible, but an entirely different situation had arisen now that Leigh and Jessica were just outside. What could she say to them? Jessica knew that she'd had a couple upsets before the Tonys, but she was just as much kept in the dark as the rest of her friends... and Leigh... well, she was never really there for Ivy growing up in terms of support, and she'd probably be angry that she wasn't told right away.

But she knew she couldn't keep silent forever. She had done this well, gotten this far with keeping everything private, everything secret. She knew it was time for her mother to know.

"Ivy sweetheart..." her mother spoke softly, alarmed slightly at the sudden silence from the cubicle in front of herself and Jessica.

Ivy finished, bringing the lid over the toilet seat and flushing, slowly opening the door to meet with her friend and her mother.

"Mom... there's something I have to tell you..."

* * *

"Wow... I never pegged Dev as someone who'd do something like that..." Hailey muttered, taking a sip of her Sprite.

"Neither did I... I mean, we had our ups and downs while I was in Bombshell, but I never thought he would do what he did..."

"That jerk..." Hailey murmured.

"Lately I've been thinking... If I never auditioned for Bombshell, would we still be together?"

"You can't think like that. If you keep looking back rather than moving forward, you won't get anywhere." Hailey asserted.

"That's what some people said about me in Hit List... that I was moving in the wrong direction..."

"Look, Dev made his choice. He cheated on you. And then you made your choice. You ended it with him... That was the right choice to make. And as for Hit List, you're bound to get offers soon. Just keep going in for auditions for musicals and stuff..."

"_Stuff_?" Karen asked.

"Television commercials... like Morning Ray Orange Juice!" Hailey giggled, Karen's face turning red.

"You've seen that?!"

"It's a _national_ commercial. _Everyone_ back home has seen it!" Hailey giggled again. "Your face was about the only real thing in that ad."

"You know, I completely forgot about that until you mentioned it to me."

"Well it's a good thing I'm here then." Hailey smiled.

"It really is... Thank you..."

"You're welcome..."

* * *

"I don't believe it..." Leigh muttered. "I thought that... Ivy I am so sorry that I said what I did before about you putting on a little weight."

"It's fine, mom."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"Well I wasn't sure if keeping it was the right thing for me or not."

"And what about now?"

"I thought about giving it up... twice actually... But I just can't. There might have been a time when I would have done whatever it took for me to succeed in my career, but not anymore..."

"So _that's_ why Tom and Eileen arranged all of those changes to Bombshell, huh?" Jessica murmured. Ivy nodded. "I thought something was up, but I didn't want to say anything..."

"So you and Derek," Leigh began. "You've talked with him about this? What has he said?"

"Well at first he said that he'd be there for me and the baby, but lately, he's made it perfectly clear that he wants nothing to do with either of us. So I don't care what he does or has to say, I'll raise this baby on my own if I have to!" Ivy said defiantly.

"Oh no you won't! I was pregnant with you while I was performing on Broadway, and your father hardly did anything to help. You don't need to do this alone, dear. You might not have Derek's support, but you have mine!" Leigh smiled.

"Mine too!" Jessica added. "But maybe you should tell Kate... she'll have to go on for you eventually... She might as well know the reason why. And it's not like you'll be able to hide it for seven more months."

"You're right. I'll tell everyone who needs to know a little later. Thanks, you guys."

As Jessica and Leigh smiled at Ivy, she wondered... Why couldn't Derek be this supportive? Of course, she knew the answer to that question. Karen Cartwright. Derek obviously had something going on with her! Ever since the two of them began holding auditions for Hit List, Derek hasn't been the same. She tried to deny it, but she couldn't anymore. Derek's behavior on the phone the other day just came across as if he had something to hide.

_"You'll always have a Karen... It's just who you are... I know that now... You should too..."_

She thought she meant what she said at the time, and then because of Derek's words...

_"I know I haven't always been there for you... But I promise... I'm different now... And I'll prove it if I have to... I __will do my best to make this work, for you and for the baby... our baby...__"_

Ivy thought that Derek had changed, but maybe it was just that she wanted Derek to change so badly that she fooled herself into believing he had. That still didn't excuse his recent behavior though, and it certainly wouldn't excuse him from getting together with Karen, especially when she already had a boyfriend... didn't she?

Yes, of course she did! She was just out to get her, just like always. She was pulling the same stuff she did when the two of them were in Bombshell! Just slowly trying to undermine her at every opportunity! Karen didn't get a Tony, so she went for Derek instead!

"Listen, guys. There's something I have to do. Tell Eileen I'm sorry..."

* * *

"Hey, Karen?" Hailey muttered as Karen opened the door to her apartment. "Thanks for showing me around tonight... I had a lot of fun seeing the town... I'm sorry to hear about what happened..."

"Well thank _you_ for listening, by the way. It actually felt good to talk about everything." Karen smiled, shutting the door behind them.

"No problem." Hailey took out her phone. "It's pretty late. I think I might just go to bed in a little bit if that's alright."

"Yep, that's fine. Good night then." Karen smiled once more as Hailey headed into Ana's old room.

"G'night..."

Karen sighed. Having been in a reflective mindset for the better part of an evening had made her, for the most part, rather depressed. While it was good for her to have finally spoken about all that had happened in the past year with someone she could really trust, it also reminded her of all that she had lost or given up. Dev. Bombshell. Jimmy. Hit List. Minus the exposure and the experience, it all seemed as though she was right back where she was a year ago, searching, yearning for a role in a Broadway musical. And just like a year ago, she knew that an opportunity wasn't just going to come knocking on her door, though she desperately hoped that it would.

Karen went to head into her room, but froze at the sound of someone pounding on her door. She turned back. It was quite late and she wondered who it might be. Derek would have called first if he was going to come over, at least she thought he would, unless he was drunk.

The pounding on the door came again as Karen walked over to it. Karen hesitantly opened the door only an inch, but opened it up all the way once she saw that it was Ivy, still fully-dressed in Marilyn Monroe drag, standing on the other side.

Perhaps Ivy should've waited, gone straight home and slept on it instead of coming to Karen's straight from a performance, because as she sat in the cab to take her to the apartment, her anger, her seething rage and resentment for Karen resurfaced and grew stronger, and by the time she reached the door, Ivy was practically fuming.

"Ivy, what are you doing here?" Karen asked, perplexed as to how Ivy knew where her apartment was.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?!" Ivy spat. "I know what you're up to, you and Derek! You've got a lot of nerve!"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand..."

"Don't you play dumb with me!" Ivy asserted. "You've been seeing Derek, haven't you? That's why he's been so distant! Not wanting to spend time with me!"

"What? I haven't been 'seeing' Derek! We were just working out what to do for Hit List! I haven't spoken to him at all since last week! Besides, even if I was, what is it to you? You're not seeing him!"

"As if _you_ would have any idea! Why don't you just back off and leave the two of us the Hell alone?! Stay with your boyfriend or dump him but don't drag Derek or me into your twisted little games!"

Karen licked her lips. She'd had enough. For one reason or another, she always seemed to get yelled at by Ivy, even when she had felt that she had done nothing wrong or nothing to provoke her, and now she was sick and tired of it. Even so, she didn't have any time to be angry with Ivy once Hailey stepped out of Ana's room.

"Karen? What's going on?" Hailey asked, walking over to her.

"It's nothing, Hailey. Don't worry." Karen replied, turning back to Ivy. "Look, Ivy. Just go home and get some rest, okay?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... Ivy _Lynn_?" Hailey asked, staring blankly at the girl in Marilyn drag.

"She was just leaving..." Karen muttered.

"You have no idea what kind of mess you're getting into, Karen." Ivy grumbled. "You think Derek will stay with you for long? You don't have a Tony! And from what I heard, your show is in trouble. Face it, Karen. Once Derek sobers up, he'll realize your dead eyes and emotionless facade are complete turnoffs and he'll want nothing more to do with you..."

"You skank! You destroy a perfectly good relationship and you have the gall to come over here and accuse Karen of sleeping with Derek?!"

"Hailey!" Karen gasped.

"I wouldn't blame her if she did sleep with him, considering what I've read and what I've heard about you! It seems like perfect payback to me."

"Who the Hell are you?!" Ivy screeched.

"I'm Karen's friend! And she's told me _all_ about you! How you slept with Derek to get the part in Bombshell, and how you were an emotional wreck throughout pretty much everything up until Boston!"

"You're kidding?! First you tell Ana and now this _hick_!?"

"Okay, that's _it_!" Hailey snarled, nostrils flaring. In one moment, Ivy was standing upright. The next, she was flat on her back, Hailey's right arm outstretched. "You stay away from Karen! You hear me?!" Hailey shouted, pulling Karen back into the apartment and slamming the door before locking it with the chain.

"Hailey... What was...?"

"How can you let her talk to you like that?!" Hailey asked. "It's disgusting!"

"I don't know, I... Ivy hasn't been like that in a while... I don't know why she was so moody... But you didn't have to _punch_ her!"

"Well I wasn't gonna listen to her trash you, and you didn't seem like you were going to do anything. You need to stand up for yourself!"

"Violence doesn't solve anything!" Karen shouted.

"Would you have preferred it if I just let her rip into you?! You're my best friend, okay Karen? And I'm not just gonna stand there and listen to her trash you or me or Iowa. If I were in your shoes, and if I had to deal with _that_ if _I_ was in Bombshell, I wouldn't have put up with that. I would have told someone on the creative team about Ivy's behavior and in the meantime I would have been looking for another show."

"You can't think like that!" Karen said, mirroring Hailey's earlier statement. "That's in the past, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. But that doesn't mean that you have to keep putting up with the same crap over and over again. Look, if Ivy doesn't change, you have to. Otherwise you'll just keep getting treated like this, not only by Ivy but by other people just like her. And you don't deserve it! I did what I did because I love you, and that woman out there destroyed a three year relationship without a care in the world!" Hailey breathed quickly as Karen made no motion to acknowledge that she had heard Hailey's words. "Has _anything_ I said made _any_ sense to you?!"

Karen's eyes focused on Hailey's as Karen put her hands to Hailey's shoulders. "Yes... We'll... talk about this in the morning, okay?"

* * *

Ivy hadn't moved an inch since being struck down by Hailey. She just stayed there on the floor outside Karen's apartment, completely motionless except for her shallow breathing. Tears filled her eyes as she found herself alone and drifting off to sleep on the cold, dull, hard floor of the apartment complex...


	8. The Missing Star

Karen sat at the table in her apartment as the warm glow of sunlight washed against her back as it came in through the window. Her back was turned, and with her right hand, Karen was looking on the internet for auditions while her agent called around. With her left hand, she occasionally dug a spoon into a bowl and fished out some cereal that she ate slowly, her eyes focused on the laptop's computer screen.

The doorknob rattled as Karen's focus was pulled to the door as it opened and Hailey stepped inside, looking quite pretty all dolled up. "Morning!" she chirped.

"Oh, hey. I thought you were asleep." Karen said, getting up from her seat.

"Nope. I got up earlier. Had stuff I wanted to do. Here, this is for you." Hailey walked up to Karen and placed a bunch of bundled banknotes into her hand.

"Huh? What's this?"

"My share of the rent." Hailey explained as Karen looked up at her. "Well I figured that since you've been letting me stay here, I should pay for half."

"Where'd you get the money?"

"From my savings." Hailey said casually. "It's no problem. I was able to get my ticket refunded, the one I bought to see you in Hit List. And I've got a ton of money saved up from back home anyway."

"Well you don't... I wasn't expecting you to pay... Thank you though..." Karen smiled briefly. To say the least, she was surprised to see that Hailey was up so early. Hailey definitely wasn't the best example of a morning person, not that she was cranky or anything, just that she preferred to be up and about a night rather than through the day. "Hey, um... About what happened last night..."

"Yes?"

"You're right..." Karen admitted.

"Of course I'm right!" Hailey smiled. "Wait, what about?"

"You said that if I don't stand up for myself, I'll just keep getting pushed around. You're right. I've been getting pushed around ever since I started my Broadway career. Jimmy and Derek in Hit List, Ivy in Bombshell. I need to be more confident, and I can't let people take advantage of me."

"Now _that's_ what I like to hear!" Hailey cheered. "So what are you gonna do?"

"Well I've got an audition for a commercial in half an hour, but after that I thought maybe the two of us could just walk around New York, maybe get something to eat, and you can give me some pointers on how you think I should start changing my image."

"Hey, I didn't say anything about 'changing your image'. I just said that you need to change your attitude a bit, you know? Not be so... easily walked on..."

Karen sighed. "Well in any case, would you be able to help me with that a little later?"

"Of course, but you should probably go and get ready for your audition." Hailey smiled, noticing that Karen was still wearing the clothes that she had on last night. "What commercial are you auditioning for, by the way?" Hailey asked, causing Karen to blush.

"I'll... tell you if I get a callback for it..."

"Awww... Don't tell me that you're embarrassed to say what it is..." Hailey pouted playfully.

"Well, no it's just... I gotta get ready for it..." Karen muttered, the color of her face reddening even more as she made her way into her bedroom.

Hailey giggled.

* * *

"So are you excited?" Julia asked Tom as the two of them sat in Tom's little rehearsal space. "Auditions in little less than a fortnight..."

"Yeah..." Tom nodded, although his tone showed that he was less than enthusiastic. "It's just... I really wanted to direct, you know? After Bombshell I wanted to move on to something where I would be directing right from the start. Instead... Ross Kryachok is directing... And, there's _already_ a first draft!"

"Of the story, not the songs." noted Julia. "We still need to come up with those..." As Julia was about to show Tom some of the notes she had written, she noticed the expression on his face and sighed. "Don't give me that look!" Julia shouted.

"What 'look'? I wasn't giving you a look!" Tom said defensively.

"Uh... Yes you were! That whole 'I didn't want to say yes but you guilted me into saying yes because you didn't want to not say yes' look."

"...What?!"

"And you didn't say yes just because of me anyway! All throughout the meeting with Patrick you were swooning over him!"

"I was _not_!" Tom shouted.

"Oh please. You complimented him on almost everything he said during the meal, and if you weren't complimenting him, you were agreeing with him"

"...Okay, maybe I _was_ swooning over him... just a _little_..." Tom admitted. Julia groaned as Tom's phone vibrated on the table. "Hold on." he said, picking it up and answering. "Hello?"

"Tom, would you know where Ivy is?" Linda asked from across the other line.

"She's not at the theatre?"

"Leigh's tried calling her but her phone's off. She can't get through."

"I'll be right there..." Tom sighed, turning to Julia.

"Tom, what's wrong?" Julia asked.

"We've got a problem..."

* * *

Tom and Julia dropped everything to go to the Lily Hayes Theatre on 45th Street to meet with Linda, Jessica, Sue, Kate and Leigh at the stage door, while everybody else was getting ready for the performance. All Tom could think about the whole cab ride over to the theatre was that this is exactly what happened at Heaven on Earth last year with Ivy! And while he was worried that she was unaccounted for, he was more worried that Ivy's actions would have similar consequences as the ones she faced last year, namely getting kicked from her role.

Tom knew that Ivy had been through Hell and back to get her role as Marilyn Monroe, and she would do nothing to jeopardize it. Though with the show going on in a very short amount of time, everything in regards to the show had to be sorted first, unless they decided to cancel with a little more than an hour to go before the show was supposed to start.

The cast of Bombshell could hear the chatter of the audience members in the seating area, most of whom were already in their seats, though others were walking around

"Leigh, you say you spoke to her last night?" Julia asked.

"Yes, after the performance. She told me she was pregnant and that she had to go somewhere." After a few seconds of silence, Leigh spoke again. "Oh, I'm not sure if I was supposed to tell you that..."

"It's okay." Julia assured her. "We know already."

"Oh, okay. Well anyway, she just said she had something she needed to do and took off..."

Tom was silent, expecting Leigh to say more but she didn't. "That's it? Did she say where she was going?"

Leigh shook her head. "No, she didn't."

Tom's breathing elevated as he tried his best not to panic. "Okay, Kate?" Tom began, turning to her.

"Y-yes?" she asked, stepping closer to him.

"You'll have to go on in Ivy's place."

"What?!" both Kate and Julia shouted.

"Look, I know it's a quick decision but we don't have time. We go on really soon and we need a Marilyn." Tom explained. "At least like this, the two of us can go and look for Ivy and the rest of you can focus on the performance. Just... don't worry about a thing... We'll find Ivy, okay? Everything is going to be _fine_!"

"Okay, Kate, come with me. We'll get you dressed as Norma Jeane right away." Linda nodded. Tom and Julia then left the theatre as the cast began to move through their final preparations for the show.

"What was that?!" Julia asked. "You can't make Kate go on without more time to prepare. Which choreography is she going to use? The original stuff, or what you went through and redid because of Ivy's pregnancy?"

"Julia, Derek made Karen go on in Boston and we both had our doubts, but you have to agree that she nailed it. Kate will do the same. What we need to do is try and find Ivy."

"So what are we gonna do then?"

"I'll try calling Ivy _again_. Can you call us a cab?"

* * *

At the sound of a furious repeating of banging upon his door, Derek Wills got up from the couch in his living room, turned off the television, and walked over to the door. "Tom, what do you want?" he asked after opening the door to see Tom standing on the other side.

"I just thought you'd like to know that the woman who's carrying your _baby_ is _missing_, so you should probably help us look for her!"

"What?!"

"Yeah, considering I think _you_ had something to do with it."

"Oh, Tom." Derek sighed. "Accuse me of whatever you like, but the last time I spoke to Ivy was in a phone call right before a meeting, and I can assure you that I was a _perfect_ gentleman."

"Like _Hell_ you were!" Tom spat.

"Look, we can stand around and bicker like we did last year, or we can go out and look for Ivy, which is what you came here to get me to do, isn't it?"

Tom sighed. "...Yes... I'm sorry..."

"Apology accepted." Derek smiled cheekily. "Now let's go find Ivy!"

As the door to Derek's apartment shut, a few seconds of silence passed before a slender, young black-haired woman crept down from the stairs leading up to Derek's bedroom, wearing nothing but a large loose-fitting shirt to cover her bare skin...

* * *

**Just as a little Author's Note, I'm going to be taking a break from writing this story for a while. If you have any suggestions of what you'd like to see or what you think should happen etc. then feel free to leave a review or PM me on the site, and I'll try to work in what I can when I can get back to writing at more consistent pace. Also, a very special thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed the story so far. I'm glad that people for the most part like what I'm writing and that as a community there is still love out there for SMASH!**


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